Upper-class luxury without the guilt

By David Booth, National Post

Originally published: January 28, 2011

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How does one measure environmental efficacy? Is it a simple measure of fuel economy or is it really all about CO2 emissions? Will performance continue to matter? Does driving enjoyment factor into the equation or is that something we are destined to leave behind forever?

What of the cost of all this planet-saving technology? Is it a top-five buying decision criterion or simply a mitigating factor? Are we willing to spend anything to feel virtuous? Or is “green” to remain forever the privilege of the monied and sanctimonious? Does the segment in which a green vehicle plays matter? And how much of a hybrid’s greenness is reality and how much is just cynical marketing to tree huggers’ sensibilities? After all, being seen to be green is as important these days as actually being green — to consumer and auto-maker alike.

I do not ask these questions rhetorically. I spent the entire Christmas solstice tooling around in a BMW ActiveHybrid 7, BMW’s attempt at making its topflight 7 Series sedan less toxic. More than a little of those two weeks was spent wondering where the big hybrid fit into the entire cost/benefit ratio of electric vehicle technology.

Essentially, what BMW has done is add a small electric motor (20 horsepower and 155 pound-feet of torque) and sandwich it between the 750’s engine and transmission. That means there are now eight pistons, two turbochargers, eight gears and, yes, an electric motor all tasked with driving the big 7’s rear wheels (unlike normal 750i xDrives that are powered by all four wheels). Making things a little more dramatic — and certainly confounding the tree-hugging issue — is that BMW has actually upped the twin-turbo V8’s power output in this environmentally conscious version from a merely colossal 400 hp to a monumentally overboard 440 hp. Factor in the electric motor’s boost and BMW says there are 459 semi-sustainable horses available when the driver lets loose the reins.

Even more impressive — since turbocharged gasoline engines and electric motors are both known for their low-end torque — is the incredible pulling power at low speeds. Honestly, it feels as if the Active 7’s combined 515 lb-ft of torque could pull the Queen Mary if you could just find a trailer that would support the ship’s weight. Anyone looking for more low-rpm torque had better start hunting diesel motors — and big ones at that. Acceleration to 100 kilometres an hour takes but five seconds (an impressive number considering this long-wheelbase version of the 7 Series weighs in at a healthy 2,195 kilograms), less than a half-second slower than the V12-powered 760i.

But, wait, you say, hybrids aren’t about performance. Their promise is a greener Earth where we consume less of the precious dino juice. How successful is it in this regard?

Well, that’s where that aforementioned perspective comes in. BMW claims about a 30% fuel economy advantage over the regular 750i. While that’s a laudable — though probably optimistic — advantage, is it really worth the additional technology or, more appropriately, the extra cost? It’s an important consideration, since the $132,300 ActiveHybrid 7 costs a whopping $15,700 more than the garden variety long-wheelbase 750Li. Besides, the 12.2 litres per 100 kilometres I averaged is hardly the frugality that brings tears to the eyes of Al Gore.

But, then, that’s where this whole perspective thing to which I alluded might come in. First, as wasteful as those 12.2 L/100 km might seem when compared with a Prius or even a diesel-powered BMW, it’s better than the 14 L/100 km I averaged in Hyundai’s Equus a week earlier. It’s also much better than BMW’s own V12-powered 760i, which has performance almost identical to the ActiveHybrid 7’s.

So, what’s the final determination? Well, considered on a simple dollar-per-advantagebasis, theActiveHybrid 7 makes absolutely no sense. You will be driving to the moon and back before the hybrid’s fuel economy advantage pays back the car’s additional cost. I suppose we can hope gasoline suddenly skyrockets to $6 a litre. You also lose the regular 750i’s all-wheel-drive system, no small consideration here in the Great White Frozen North. Whatever the scenario, the Hybrid 7 does not present a pragmatic cost/ benefit ratio.

On the other hand, no one buys a $130,000 ultra-luxury sedan for pragmatic reasons. It might send David Suzuki into paroxysms of rampant socialism, but the monied will buy whatever humongously overpriced and overpowered exotic vehicles catch their fancy. If we can somehow convince them that a turbocharged V8 and an electric motor will indeed belittle the proletariat as well as 12 normally aspirated pistons do — and save a precious few barrels of oil along the way — then perhaps the ActiveHybrid 7 is a success.